As any conspiracy theorist can attest, deep within the Nevada desert lies the super-secret Area 51, a hotbed for extraterrestrial activity unlike any other. Atari took arcade gamers to this mysterious locale in 1995, as a highly trained marine from STAAR (Special tactical Advanced Alien Response, of course) whose mission was to rid the base of unfriendly interplanetary visitors and (for good measure) their human zombie cohorts. The result was a certified arcade around the globe. Continue reading...

Fans of first-person shooting games had already had their fill of taking out soldiers, terrorists and the like, but those were mere mortals. When Sega introduced House of the Dead in 1997, players would be forced to contend with a few more ominous adversaries - legions of hungry and undead zombies in need of a human flesh fix. It would take a handful of quarters and your trusty firearm to save your hide from becoming dinner. Continue reading...

Although it wasn't released to arcades until 1978, the origins of Space Wars stretch back to the birth of video games in 1962. Generally considered to be the first computer game, the original Spacewar was written by a group of MIT students and quickly spread to computer labs across the country, giving grad students yet another excuse to put off their studies. Continue reading...

Rescuing a damsel in distress is a plot more than a little familiar to video game aficionados over the years. And, who better to pursue a periled princess than a brave knight named Arthur? Such was the premise for Ghosts n’ Goblins, a Medieval adventure that frustrated many an arcade junkie. Fitted in his trusty suit of armor, Arthur battled his way through six levels of bad guys, creepy graphics. and a ticking clock, all to save his love from impending doom. Continue reading...

So, you’ve just been raised from the dead to find yourself in ancient Greece, and you are called upon to rescue Athena, daughter of Zeus. To do so, you are going to have to wield some substantial shape-shifting powers to take on an army of the undead if you are to get your hands on the evil Demon God Neff. If all of this sounds familiar, you’ve likely tossed a few coins into a highly popular 1988 Sega game, Altered Beast. Continue reading...

A combined love of collecting bugs and playing video games led to one of the biggest toy crazes of the 90s, when Japanese gamer Satoshi Tajiri concocted a little game called Pokémon. As the editor of his own gaming magazine, Tajiri had become enamored with the Nintendo Game Boy system, especially the fact that two systems could be interconnected, and he wanted to create a special game for the system. After six long years of work, Nintendo bought the rights to his game and the Pokémon craze was officially launched. Continue reading...

Competition was fierce among pinball machine manufacturers in the early 80s, as each tried to outdo their rivals with new features that would set their products apart from the rest. One of the most creative was the use of multi-level playing surfaces, first introduced in 1980, when Williams placed an additional upper level in their breakthrough game, Black Knight. The following year, Gottlieb countered with a lower level of play, viewable through a window in the main playing field in their game, Black Hole. And seeking to one-up themselves, Gottlieb followed up in 1982 with the first 3-surface pinball game, Haunted House, a game still fondly remembered by pinball aficionados. Continue reading...

It’s a nice sunny day; birds are chirping, the world is turning, and if you are kid addicted to video games – you might not even know that such simple pleasures exist. You are tethered to the television in an all out battle alongside Mario. Wouldn’t it be nice if one could carry their video addiction wherever their travels take them, a nice monkey on their back as it were? Well, dream became reality in the 90s and thy name was Game Boy. Continue reading...